May 17, 2006 - Spec work?

[Chisa]

More web stuff, but again it can apply to many fields 3nodding

Wikipedia and Bowing to the Brand

It's an article about the redesign competition being run by Wikipedia, and the ethics of spec work and how it can affect both the design industry and the client. I hadn't though of it that way before, but when I think about it I wouldn't do anything other than design for something with only a chance at getting paid, because I enjoy it.

More thoughts on spec work here, which I still need to read.

"The design is not the end result, the design is process one took to arrive at a solution to the problems."  

[Catani]

i did no spec work but i'm thinking about doing some, but if any it'll be for a friend or a person i know - why?

it's just so damn good advertisment - nobody did say it directly but everybody would want to get that kind of "client" in their resume - especially if you're an aspiring designer.

First of i agree that spec work can ruin the industry - but it can get you a job too  

[Chisa]

Yeah, I'm still a little iffy on the difference between 'spec work' and 'pro bono work', aside from the fact that one seems to have better connotations than the other...

I know that a lot of designers do pro bono work for charities and not-for-profit organisations to give them something they couldn't otherwise afford, help promote a good cause and get some exposure.

Gonna have to read that site and see what the difference is...  

[Catani]

from what i read the article the main diiference isin time of chosing ones design and doing the design:
- spec work - first the designs are made and then it's chosen which one it'll be of the "pre-made" ones
- pro bono - the designer is asked to do some free work, but it's not a competition but a perticular person asked to do a design

so the spec work can be not only free but vain too as it will be thrown away as a worse of the designs

at least that's what i understood from the article sweatdrop  

[rogue_designer]

Pro-bono, usually the designer chooses who they want to work with (usually a cause they believe in) and often the designer gets some more creative control over the outcome, as well as an "in-kind" donation write off on their taxes (since these are often not-for-profit companies).

Spec-work is when there is no compensation guaranteed, nor even a promise that you get the eventual contract, but you are still asked to do work, and give up rights and ownership of the work done for a company (who often is very much in a position to pay), as a pre-requisite to getting a contract/job.

The really bad part of spec work is - hypothetically, you create a really interesting advertisement for a company on spec. Then the company decides your quote for the business is too expensive. So they hire the cheapest designer, and ask them to re-create your ad, since the hiring company now "owns" the design work you did, without compensation. In a way, you facilitate not only copyright infrigment of your work, but you also give away your own skills and ideas without even the right to put it in your portfolio.

The official position of the AIGA and the GAG is that designers and artists in those organizations, by agreeing to the terms of membership, will not do "spec work"  

[Chisa]

Yowch! Okay, I get it now, and how it can be detrimental to the individual and to the industry as a whole.

Although in the case of Wikipedia it's a competition, so I'd think most people would enter expecting not to get anything out of it. And Wikipedia even said that the winner themselves may or may not be payed anything even if their design is used, and even then the amount they would be payed would be small. Still... having your design up on one of the most viewed websites on the net would be amazing exposure. Even if you don't get your name put somewhere visible on the Wikipedia site (other than announcing contest winners) you'd be forever known as 'the person who did the Wikipedia redesign'. Unless you went and did something even bigger blaugh